Hong Kong Marathon: Former Kenyan runner Eunice Chumba aims for victory representing Bahrain
- The 25-year-old has a personal best time of two hours, 24, minutes and 27 seconds
- The Jakarta Asian Games silver medallist will be hoping to improve on her fifth place from her last Hong Kong Marathon appearance in 2013
Former Kenyan runner Eunice Chumba hopes changing her allegiance will also change her luck at this weekend’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon when she races under a Bahrain flag.
The 25-year-old, who won a silver medal in the women’s 10,000 metres at last year’s Asian Games in Jakarta, is one of the favourites in the women’s marathon, at least on paper. She has a personal best time of two hours, 24 minutes and 27 seconds set in the Rotterdam marathon in 2017. And she has intimate knowledge of the Hong Kong course having competed here in 2013 when she finished fifth racing under the Kenyan banner.
“I moved to Bahrain in 2014 and then represented the country in the Asian Games and many other events,” said Chumba. “I know the Hong Kong course is very tough as it goes through tunnels and bridges but we are used to it when we train in Kenya.
“The only worry will be the weather as I know the humidity will be very high on Sunday and therefore I can’t be too aggressive in the race.”
Chumba said she would love to win in Hong Kong for Bahrain but says she won’t target a personal best because of the weather. “I only hope to beat my previous time [2:33] with an improved result this time,” she said.
Her major rival is likely to be Volha Mazuronak of Belarus, who has a personal best of 2:23:54 which she set while finishing fourth at the London Marathon in 2016.
Other medal contenders are expected to come from Africa – specifically Ethiopia who have sent a strong team that comprises Tigist Gebeyehu, Nurit Shimels and Jemila Wortesa, who has a personal best of two hours and 30 minutes.
In the men’s marathon, defending champion Kenneth Mburu Mungara will attempt to make it two in a row – at the age of 45. “Age is absolutely not a problem for me,” said the Kenyan. “I want to win in Hong Kong again or else I won’t be coming back [here].”
Mungara, who will race for the third time in Hong Kong, said because runners have to negotiate “too many corners” it would make it tough for any runner.
2016 Hong Kong champion Mike Kiprotich, also from Kenya, is another medal contender as well as fellow countryman Tuwei Dickson, who won the 2018 Seville Marathon in a time of 2:08:18.
Meanwhile, organisers of the event said about 400 runners from the half-marathon challenge group have requested to move to a slower group after a tougher time limit was set just a week before the event.
Many of them complained the new two hour and 20 minute limit was too harsh as they were told the limit was three hours when they registered. The organisers said they did not want to see the slow runners block the leading marathon challenge group as it would affect the gold label status of the event.
